Question of the Week: 108 - 4/28/2003Do You Speak Pagan Geek?Are you techno-savvy? A Diva of the Database? A Sorcerer of Software? Well, not all Pagans are so adept and they could probably use some techno-tips!

If you know of any good Pagan (or non-Pagan) software, spam-fighters, anti-virus software programs, pop-up zappers or the like, please share your knowledge with us!

If you have questions relating to these issues and would like some guidance, feel free to post your questions here. Perhaps some Pagan web guru can provide an answer for you.

If you offer FREE Pagan related graphics, email postcards or other web tools and/or goodies, tell us where to find you. We all like treats!

I have experience with all the basics but the helpful thing is I am becoming fairly knowedgeable with FileMaker Pro (worked on 5, 5.5, and will be getting 6 soon) . I don't work with any file sharing cababilities but have been wanting to learn. For those who don't know it's a wonderful Mac and PC compatable database program, much better (but also spendier) than Access. I have a fairly extensive database that I also might be willing to share.

Also for those who have web sites I am willing to work to help you proof read pages and text.

I love lunabar by clysmic.com Like someone else said, it calculates full moons, equonoxes, planatary hours, position of constilations etc. All for your exact GPS coordinates. Very nifty, and how impressive is it to say, "The New Moon will be May 1st at 8:16 AM EST"? Oh yeah, you'll be getting all the chicks. ;-)

I'm always on mIRC and I've programed alieses and popups to say "Merry Meet" when ever you enter the room, and that greeting also changes for the holidays, right now when you enter chat it says "Blessed Beltane!" A few friends and I are currently programing a Pagan trivia bot! (We are currently located at irc.chathosting4u.net:7000 #EarthSpirit for those interested.) There are also a few Pagan IRC networks, which really suprised me, like irc.peacefulhaven.net and irc.paganpaths.org

I am always involved.. the net is my forte. I administer activation servers nationwide and a network that is about to increase to handle over 4 million subscribers. not to mention I feel like I know the internal back bone of the net like the back of my hand. and I feel like I have seen all the pages on the net on a weekly basis. I remember telling my family about the success of the net and they told me last year they never thought that I would be right.. after all what did I know, it was the late 80's and I was only a 6th grader!

I eat sleep and dream "geek". I've been with the internet since the beginning, and even before, in the old BBS days. Lol, my first home computer (if you want to call it that) was the Adam. It hooked up to the television and came with Flash Gordon, a word processor, and a book on Basic. That lasted until the real thing came along. I've not been without a computer since the beginning of the 80's, and intend to be geeking it until I'm too old to remember what a keyboard is. :)

Here is the highlight of what I am experienced with. By experienced I mean I have worked with extensively and have the program or programs on one or more of my home computer systems. "Worked with extensively" jsut means that I can do/create/change whatever I need without consulting a manual, and not necessarily a true guru status. :)

All Windows OS since 3.1 Linux (Mandrake) - my preferred OSWord/Excel/Front Page/Access (I wrote all the production databases used by my last employer in Access) Browsers I have/use include IE/Netscape/Opera (don't like it) StarOfficeLotus/Word PerfectFileMaker 5.5OmniFormsMacromedia Flash/Swish/Dreamweaver/Fireworks/DirectorAdobe Photshop/PagemakerUlead's PhotoimpactBrycePoser

That doesn't everything I use have or use, but that is what I use regularly enough to be skilled, if not necessarily skilled at guru status.

I have been working a lot with CGI, and have recently started with PHP-Nuke. I've used PHP with flatfile previously, but not Nuke and MYSQL. But so far I seem to be catching on. I have one mod and a couple of themes I am debugging.

I'm happy to answer questions or help if I can, but please keep in mind I own 8 websites and create all the content, graphics, or whatever else needs to be done on all of them, so time is precious.

I know some stuff. Not much, but definetely enough to get by! I do however think if you needed help primarily on the basics then i could be your man!

The real reason i am posting however is to ask if anyone here knows of any really good (FREE!) Pagan/Wiccan software programs you can get off the net? I've got one allready but its a free three day trial thing. Im sorry but i think its kinda dumb for anyone to have to pay for spells or a lunar chart online.

In response to Jeremy's query. Here is a very cool website for downloading (i.e. printer friendly text pages) all kinds of info regarding all kinds of pagan related topics. Spells, recepies, history, lore, you name it. For free, of course! Enjoy

I usually go to Tucows.com to see what they have, some of it's freeware, some is Shareware but the prices are reasonable.

I highly recommend the Symantics (Nortons) line of products for system protection.I also recommend: Macromedia Dreamweaver Studio (Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks and Freehand as a set) andAdobe Photoshop.These programs are kinda pricey but if you are (or know someone who is) a student go to www.journeyed.com. They sell various programs at a significant markdown.

I have a section on my website devoted to neo-paganism and religious discrimination. in the downloads section there is an "internet BOS" i posted. i got it from Kazaa, i've gotten alot out of studying it. if your interested in checking it out its at HTTP://gerillapimp.tripod.com - Mo'Riff Link to More info related to this post -- HERE

I am geek-in-training and would like to help out where I can. My expertise is mostly with GNU/Linux, especially the Debian distribution. I have a network of three boxes and fiddle with them whenever I can unite need, motivation and time. In programming I have some experience with Java (yes, the programming language, not JavaScript) and ATM I work deeper into Scheme. If someone has questions I can be contacted on IRCnet under the nick garou quite often, if someone doesn't know yet how to get that far... Well, I hope someone else can help out. :) Most of my motivation to help comes from the hope for inspiration for more things to fiddle with, so feel free to ask.Oh, and as a warning, by now I wouldn't claim myself pagan, just more-than-casually-interested.

A lot of people out there have virus protection and a firewall, but what about protection against spyware? Adaware is a program that checks your box for many kinds of spyware. Why do we want to get rid of spyware? So us techno pagans won't have to deal with the bother of little script kiddies getting root and messing with our digital books of shadows. Here is the url to download Adaware: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=965718306

You could also go to Lavasoft's site to see what else they have to offer: http://www.lavasoft.de/

All right, so I signed up with Earthlink for e-mail and internet, but they have proven worth their pagan-ish name sake. Earthlink now offers an awesome pop-up blocker. You have to have an account (which is worth it in my opinion, I've had them for years) , but if you do, you'll highly appreciate it.

Website structure, evolution and php coding by Fritz Jung on a Macintosh G5.

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